pentagon acquisition reform

The Missile Defense Agency and Raytheon will soon fire fire a new SM-3 missile variant into space to destroy an approaching enemy missile target - as a way to develop a new interceptor better able to detect and destroy ballistic missile threats approaching the earth’s atmosphere from space. – Scout Warrior

Jerry Hendrix writes: Twelve carriers, 350 ships, and a longer ranged carrier air wing should be the basis for the United States’ grand strategy going forward. We are a maritime nation. We have always been a maritime nation since our founding, and now there is a commitment to make the investments needed to execute a new maritime based national security strategy. – The National Interest

Seth Cropsey writes: With his personal support, President Trump can change the Pentagon from an over-centralized, red-taped and unaccountable bureaucracy into an efficient organization that applies dollars saved to increased security for the nation. The new president will need the help of an experienced and knowledgeable Secretary who can transform the Commander-in-Chief’s ideas into facts. That would be Randy Forbes. – Real Clear Defense

Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein writes: War in the information age will continue to rely on a foundation of trust and confidence across the joint and combined team. The relationships we have built over the past quarter-century of conflict at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels set the table now for a revolutionary approach to future combined arms. In the end, it will be our ability to achieve decision speed and the operational agility to lift and shift forces and capabilities across all domains and functional components simultaneously that will produce not only a warfighting capability our enemy can’t hope to match, but also a lasting deterrent in the 21st century. – Defense One

Mackenzie Eaglen writes: A modest budget deal will be hailed as a success in providing budget stability and predictability for Pentagon officials. This will also reveal that what truly ails the Defense Department is not that politicians wait until the last minute to revise the spending law, but that the US military simply isn’t getting enough money to do the job. – Breaking Defense

Mackenzie Eaglen and Rick Berger write: A repeal of the Budget Control Act and a substantial investment in the military now seem imminent. What remains to be seen is whether Republicans can pursue meaningful entitlement reform to render such a buildup sustainable. As a candidate who spoke favorably of leveraging debt, Trump could simply increase defense and infrastructure spending by increasing the debt. In that scenario, the sky is the limit – War on the Rocks

For several years, the Pentagon has been blocked by Congress in its request to begin another round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). Now, facing an expected wave of modernization bills in the next decade, a top DoD official has suggested the building needs to look for alternative ways to shut down excess infrastructure. – Defense News

Why Senator John McCain May Be Wrong In His Assessment of Acquisition ProblemsThe decision to force Lockheed Martin to accept the government’s price for the ninth Low Rate Initial Production batch of F-35s is a “symptom” of wider problems with the Pentagon’s acquisition system, Sen. John McCain said in a statement today. But is the Senate Armed Services chairman right? – Breaking Defense